Kids and Responsibility continued...

My first thought when my daughter was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome at the age of thirteen was, that she would be dependent on me to take care of her for the rest of her life. I was scared that if anything happened to me and her Father she would end up in an institution or something worse. How wrong I was! Once I started doing research on Autism Spectrum Disorders I realized that the majority of these children can learn with the proper teaching to be very independent and some even get married and raise families of their own. How wonderful to find out that my daughter's future was not going to be as dismal as I first thought.

I have found that with my daughter she has the ability to learn how to do many things and although some things are more of a struggle than others, she can be taught. She has become quite a little cook and her recipe repertoire is quite extensive. While she still has to be supervised for her own safety, I know that in the very near future she will be very capable of preparing meals all on her own. I noticed straight away that my confidence in her abilities and my encouraging her to try new and challenging things only added to her self esteem and her own realization that she was actually a very capable young lady. By allowing her to make mistakes without too much intervention she was becoming more and more independent and I had to do less and less for her. Had I not allowed her to make mistakes, she never would have realized her potential. Now if I could just get her to keep her room clean. :- ) Oh well I guess we can't have it all.

Happy Parenting,

Monicka